This article features spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 1, «Future Days.»
Dystopian dramas seem to be a dime a dozen now, but there are a few that stand above the rest. The mark of an excellent one is that the outside forces that brought the world down were secondary. Whatever zombie apocalypse or pandemic destroyed society presents the horrors at the center of the characters. No series has done this better than HBO Max’s The Last of Us. Adapted from Neil Druckmann’s critically acclaimed video game, the series followed Joel Miller, a father in the grips of grief as he also tried to find a way to keep living in the worst circumstances.
Even when Joel found a second life by being the father figure to a teenage girl, Ellie, internal demons tested this bond. At the end of Season 1, Joel was confronted with an impossible choice. He could either let the mercenary Fireflies heal the world by killing his daughter for his brain, or he could save her. Ultimately, Joel made the only choice he could and wiped out an entire hospital full of people to ensure they couldn’t dissect Ellie’s brain. Joel’s decision to kill the entire sect of Fireflies made the whole plot ethically complicated at best, but it wasn’t a mistake. Joel would eventually make his real error later that day in a move he could never take back.
Joel Was Within His Rights to Kill the Fireflies
Since The Last of Us debuted in 2013, fans have debated the morals of Joel’s decision at the end of the game. Joel spent most of his time keeping Ellie at arm’s length, afraid of caring for her and experiencing another death of a daughter. His worst fear came to life when the Fireflies embraced Ellie as their savior.
Because Ellie was the only human with an apparent immunity to the Infected outbreak, the Fireflies determined they could make a cure from Ellie. What wasn’t made clear to Joel was that they would have to kill her to do this. After arriving at the hospital where the procedure was to take place, he was informed they would have to cut into Ellie’s brain to create a cure.
This cruel twist of fate drove Joel to one of his darkest moments. Unable to lose Ellie, he broke her out and killed everyone inside to do it. This was the greatest character test for Joel. He could let one girl die to save millions. The only issue was that it was the wrong girl. Joel’s trauma was so severe that there was no way he would ever be able to let her go. In turn, the Fireflies weren’t about to let her go without a fight. The stakes for saving humanity were too high.
Joel would go on to get a lot of criticism for his act of violence. He sacrificed the fate of the world because of his feelings for one person. But even so, there was never any choice in the matter. Anyone who truly loved someone could never let them die, especially when that someone has been through the pain that Joel had.
Never mind the fact that it was unlikely the Fireflies had the real power to create a vaccine. Even if they did, who knows if they even would have been able to distribute it? Groups like this would understand the power of holding on to such a commodity, and giving the vaccine to everyone means they would lose their power.
No matter how much Ellie wanted to be important to someone after living her entire life alone, there was no guarantee her sacrifice would have been used the right way. It’s more probable that she would have died in vain, so the Fireflies could cure their people with little regard for anyone else. Joel’s decision to protect the only thing that mattered to him anymore was one of the most relatable things about him. His fumble was hours later when Ellie confronted him about what happened at the Firefly camp.
Joel’s Biggest Mistake Was His Lie to Ellie
Just like Joel, Ellie had her share of trauma that pushed her to act the way that she did. Orphaned since before she could remember, Ellie was raised in a FEDRA school to be one of the soldiers in the QZ. She was one abandoned child among many, and for once, she wanted to be important to someone.
Being the person to save the entire world would mean that Ellie was important, even if she were killed. Joel knew that Ellie would never understand his ethical dilemma. She would choose to die if it meant creating a cure. He would have to lie, but the question was, how to exactly phrase it.
As with many liars, Joel went overboard. He wove a complex tale about what happened when Ellie was asleep that sounded far-fetched even to the ears of a 14-year-old. Joel told Ellie that the Fireflies had found other immune kids like her, but the tests weren’t working. They had stopped looking for a cure.
Joel topped off the entire scenario by saying that raiders had attacked the hospital, and he had to get her out as fast as possible. That was the most believable part of the entire story and the closest to reality. Had Joel just told Ellie that violence erupted and they had to leave, that likely would have been the end of it.
As it stood in the last scene of the season, however, it is obvious that Ellie barely believed Joel. She told him to swear to her what he was telling her was the truth, which is not something someone says if they trust you implicitly. A part of her never really believed Joel, which culminated in their estrangement five years later.
Ellie’s Treatment of Joel Was the Worst Part
When Season 2 of The Last of Us picked up again, there was a lot that viewers were missing out on. After Joel liberated Ellie from the Fireflies, there was a five-year time jump where the characters were in a vastly different place. The relationship between Ellie and Joel had deteriorated, breaking the hearts of every fan who had been along the ride with them this entire time.
Much is left up for interpretation, but it was safe to say that Ellie gauged Joel’s deception in some way since the viewers last saw them. Now living in his garage, Ellie doesn’t give him the time of day, leaving many of the citizens of Jackson to wonder what happened between the two of them.
For Joel’s part, he was putting in the work. He started seeing a therapist, trying to unpack how everything went so wrong. Only five sessions in, Joel hadn’t exactly made any breakthroughs but was making an effort. The worst part of the situation was how Ellie treated her surrogate father during this tense time.
Catherine O’Hara plays Gail, Joel’s therapist who was not a character from the game.
The two had gone through hell together, but Ellie became so twisted up about her relationship with Joel that she found the most hurtful ways to deal with him in front of other people. She got specifically triggered after Joel defended her when a Jackson citizen lobbed a homophobic slur at her. Ellie screamed at him in front of the whole town, opening up all the wounds all over again.
The relationship at the center of The Last of Us is Joel and Ellie, so seeing them in such a state is more painful than any of the violence perpetrated throughout the series. No matter how much Joel tried to give her what she wanted, she couldn’t forgive him. This entire mess could have been avoided if Joel had just said less, something he should be pretty good at. But if that were the case, there would be no show. This rift between The Last of Us characters is the natural progression of the series.
Neil Druckmann had always stated that the thesis at the center of the drama was the danger of love. As beautiful as love can be, it also can make people do some of the most reprehensible acts. The Last of Us Season 2 had to keep telling this story after the big event of that season finale. There had to be consequences of Season 1 or there would be no reason to watch the show. Conflict is the center of the drama, and as much as fans hate to see the central relationship of the show fractured, that is the way of storytelling.
Rest assured, Season 2 will not be resting on its laurels. Fans of The Last of Us game timeline will be the first to understand the harrowing emotional trauma that is ahead for viewers of the series. Unfortunately for fans, Ellie’s outward cruelty will only scratch the surface when the rest of the season airs. Love is the most dangerous weapon of all, as game and television fans can attest.
